Elon Musk is a lifelong fan of science fiction. In early 2002, Musk set up the company called SpaceX. His goal was to make spaceflight cheaper and its long-term goal is to make Mars affordable.
①In 2004, Musk spent $70 million on Tesla, an electric car company. Musk took an active product role at Tesla, helping develop its first car, the Roadster. As if that wasnt enough, Musk came up with the idea for SolarCity, a solar energy company. Musk gave his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive the working capital to get SolarCity off the ground in 2006.
②But between SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, Musk very nearly went broke. He describes 2008 as "the worst year of my life." Tesla kept losing money, and SpaceX was having trouble sending its Falcon 1 rocket into space. By 2009, Musk was living off personal loans(贷款).
③Around Christmas 2008, things started looking up again. Musk got two pieces of good news: SpaceX landed a $1.5 billion contract(合同) with NASA to send materials into space, and Tesla finally raised more money. By 2010, things had seriously turned around, with Tesla holding a successful initial public offering(首次公开募股).
④Among his latest is the Hyperloop, a super-high speed train that travels in a vacuum tube( 真空管). Its said the Hyperloop could transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.
Musk also recently started another company - The Boring Company, which is more interesting than its name suggests. Started last year, the Boring Company's goal is to dig a network of tunnels(隧道) under and around cities for high-speed, no-traffic driving.
And in late 2015, Musk co-founded Open AI to research artifciall intelligence and make sure it doesn't destroy humanity. Musk has expressed that the race for better AI could end up causing a third world war. At the same time Musk is promoting(促进) Tesla's self-driving car capabiltie. This "autopilot"(自动驾驶) system is available on all three of its models, including the new Model 3.
lron Musk is like a real life lron Man in what he's doing. There's a lot more that will happen before his story is over. So, just get to watch, be excited, and see what comes next.
